Automotive wheels have become not only a functional component of the motor vehicle, but a fashionable one, as well. Wheels frequently are provided with decorative shapes and configurations between the tire rim and the hub. A common style theme nowadays is a plurality of widely spaced apart elongated spokes emanating radially from the hub and intersecting the rim. For example, in a five lug nut hub, an efficient wheel design (from a structural standpoint) is to have five elongated spokes, however, the number of spokes may be otherwise. While such styles provide dramatically impressive wheels, functionality pertains as well, in that the brakes disposed at the inner (axle hub facing) side of the wheel are provided with copious ventilation via the generous spacing between the spokes.
As the importance of wheel appearance has increased, so has the desire to customize wheels so that the motor vehicle appearance is even further enhanced. One of the enhancements available in the prior art pertains to ornamental wheel inserts which fit into predetermined seats of the wheel, as for example between or at the spokes. These ornamental wheel inserts are secured by either two-sided tape, as for example available through 3M Company of St. Paul, Minn. 55144, or by threaded fasteners.
Problematically, the two-sided tape renders removal and replacement of the ornamental wheel insert quite difficult, and there is some chance the adhesive could untowardly fail. While threaded fasteners allow for easy removal and replacement, the need to have a drive head of the fasteners inhibits a fully clean appearance at the class A finish side of the ornamental wheel insert, while further requiring the provision for tapped holes in the wheel, itself.
Accordingly, what remains needed in the art is an ornamental wheel insert which does not rely upon adhesive or threaded fasteners for its primary attachment to the wheel.